<p>I will be starting at Auburn University this Fall with Software Engineering as my major. I just received my AP scores, however, and I did much better in Calculus than I expected, a 5. I understood all of the Cal I & II concepts in class, except for Taylor and McLaurin series. I can do the problems, but it feels formulaic and I don’t feel like I grasped the concepts well in that section. Because of that, I decided to retake Cal II my first semester. However, having received a 5 on the AP exam, I am wondering if I should still re-take Cal II or continue to Cal III?</p>
<p>tl;dr Basically, does Software Engineering (or later, higher math in general) require a good basis and understanding in Geometric/Infinite/Taylor series or will I be able to get by without re-taking the course?</p>
<p>An understanding of series and sequences is going to be integral to passing any decent “Introduction to Algorithms” course. Taylor and Maclaurin series aren’t so useful, per se, but you should have a fairly good handle on the basics of series (convergence, limits, sequences, comparison tests, etc.). This is required to do time-complexity analysis.</p>
<p>In other words, Cal II is infinitely more useful and important than Cal III for the study of CS/SwE, and if you are shaky, retake it.</p>
<p>There are other higher math courses that would apply to computer science/software engineering like junior/senior-level courses in combinatorics or graph theory. At the University of Maryland, Calculus III is a prerequisite for this course.</p>
<p>Also, if you ever do any scientific programming/software development, not only will you need Calculus III but also Differential Equations.</p>
<p>Another area is cryptology which will have either number theory or abstract algebra as prerequisites.</p>
<p>Do not take my following statement as “cut and dry” but the amount of math you know will “kind of” determine if you work in the hard-core software engineering OR the more IT/IS-type of software engineering.</p>
<p>If you doubt your ability, retake Calculus II. You are at least one course ahead of the many people with 5 on AP BC (you mean BC, not AB, right?).
Double check with the math department and see if there’s a placement test.</p>
<p>Also, ask for old final exams for Calculus II and Calculus I. Should you decide to go ahead with Calculus III you should score at least 80% on the final exam.
If Calculus II covers series, I think it is okay to go ahead to Calculus III. You can practice problems at home while taking Calculus III.</p>